Hey...I remember this place.

But....does this place remember me?  I can't believe I've gone so long without so much as a wordless Wednesday post, or a recipe or anything.

Well I'm back in the swing of things, and I plan on using this blog to do exactly what I meant for it to do in the first place.  Keep me motivated, and motivated is exactly what I need to be right now.  The Mr. and I are planning a trip to Vegas in June, and I'm going on a loooooooooong journey with my Grandma to Colorado, and I'd like to do it about 30-40 lbs lights, and hopefully sticking to my blog will help me stick to that too, since it's helped me 'keep on track' in the past.

In other news, I no longer have the 6 year old living with me.  His mom is out of the nursing/rehab home, and is healing nicely.  She's glad to be back in her own home, with her youngin' back in her everyday life.  Now that he's gone, my weekends have been filling up with cake jobs.  I've been making cakes and cupcakes every weekend, for the last five weekends.  I'm loving it, but I really need to get into another space that has more working room.  Maybe I should see about renting out kitchens somewhere.

Here's a few of the creations I've made lately.

These were for my pool shark of a dad. 

My first paid wedding cake.

Not one person wanted to cut into this cake.

A little bedrockian.  

Well, now I have to go finish cleaning up from yesterday, then get my butt to the gym, since I have a girls only dinner at Olive Garden tonight.  Say yes to the salad and NOOOOOOOOOO to the breadsticks!

No promises, but I should be here tomorrow.  I even set an alarm for it.  Need to get back to the consistent writing, since it really does make me happy.  


Until later!

Cupcakes and Coffee. Is there really anything better?

I love coffee, I mean LOVE it.  I also have a sweet spot for a good cupcake, so when I found a way to combine the two in a drink, I saw no reason not to share the delicious concoction that has become my drink of choice for the last month or so.

If you read The Pioneer Woman than you have probably seen her recipe for The perfect iced coffee and if you haven't and if you love coffee, then you should go check our her simple and delicious recipe, like pronto!  Although her recipe is perfect all by its self, the ex-barista in me just couldn't let me drink it plain.

Then one day, I went to our local coffee stand (my home away from home) and their drink of the month was a Godiva Cupcake Mocha.  What?  Could this be true?  A liquid cupcake?  A chocolate liquid cupcake?  What could be more perfect?  So immediately, me and the kid decided that was exactly what we were going to get.

*Insert harps and angels holding a high C note*

It was.................the most delicious thing that had ever touched my tongue.

I then found out that Toriani's makes a new flavor.  Cupcake.  I want to kiss the person that created it...really I do.  So I got the recipe and went to the local coffee syrup supply shop, grabbed a bottle and went home to re-create this magical drink.

Let me share.

What you need:

Iced Coffee, you can use regular coffee, shots of espresso, or do this as a warm drink, it's all up to you.  Half and half, Toriani's Cupcake syrup, and chocolate milk.  Oh and a glass.

Fill your glass about 2/3 full of coffee.

Add a shot of Cupcake syrup, less or more, depending on your sweetness factor.

A couple splashes of chocolate milk, again, you can tweak it to your sweetness preference.

A splash of Half and half, for the extra fatness creaminess.

Stir it up, stick a straw in it, throw some whipped cream on the top and sit back and let your taste buds experience what euphoria is like.

I'm currently working on a really delicious caramel cupcake recipe and maybe a red velvet one too.  All I know is, if you love cupcake flavor, you gotta try the syrup, you'll thank me for it.

Have a smashing Thursday kiddies!!!
Marisa

You mean if I go camping, I'll get more business?

The younger and I have now done two birthday cakes.  The first, a mini princess cake and 24 cupcakes, that were to be made the same weekend we were to go camping.  We totally pulled it off, but did miss out on a day of camping for it.

This time, we planned another camping trip and a week before we leave we are offered another, bigger job.  A slightly larger personal cake, with forty cupcakes, adorned in a Hawaiian theme.  Although this was only our second "paying job"  and by paying job, I mean we get paid what we spent, which works for us, because we get to practice for free and we get out name out there.  It's a win-win, once we get better we can start trying to make a profit, but for now, were just happy to help friends out.

"Coconut drink" cupcakes.

Flamingos and flip-flops.

Surf's up, dude!

Pretty, grown up cupcakes.

Coconut bra and grass skirt cake.

Hibiscus flower toppers.  Not my best, but hey, that's why I practice.

And oh yeah!  After we got the bakery part of the day done.  It was about 6:30pm and we weren't ready for camping yet.

Did I mention that we were supposed to leave by 4 pm? 

Did I mention, I'm always late?  Always!!!!

Did I also mention that earlier that day, I went to pick up The Misters truck at the local park and ride, so that I could take it in and have the tires rotated and oil changed.  Then when I got there, my beep-beep keychain thingy didn't unlock the doors, so I figured the battery was dead.  No biggy, I think and proceed to unlock the door with my key.  HOLY SHIT!!!  The alarm goes off.

What do I do, what the hell do I do???

Wait, if I get in and put the key in, surely it will stop.  WRONG!!  It does not stop, I panic, put it in drive, and drive home, two miles, with my alarm going off every thirty seconds, stopping for fifteen second intervals.  It sucked, and for the rest of the day, if you opened the truck door, the alarm would go off.  I would then have to wait until 4 pm to take the truck for tire rotation and oil change.

Did I mention that we were making forty cupcakes and going camping??

Did I also mention that The Mister was going camping and I had to buy food for two separate camping trips and then realized that we only have ONE of everything and we now need TWO of everything.  Tent, cooler, sleeping bags, camp stove, toilet paper.  You know, the necessities

So even though it sounds like we never made it.  We did in fact arrive at our campsite at approximately 9:15 pm on Friday night.  Exhausted and ready to relax and that's exactly what we did for 2 days.

Thrilled to have her picture taken.

Equally as thrilled as her younger sister.

Why the hell won't they let me take a picture.

It never worked.

No Bigfoot, but we did see Cousin It.

Gorgeous weather.

Best.Candid.EVER

D  wrote love notes on the firewood with the wood poker stick.

D, the dog and I slept in this..  Just so you know, it's a 5x7 tent.  5x7!!

Cool fungus.

The always beautiful, Skookum Falls.

Finally, I got a pose.

So, the moral to today's random assortment of proof that I do have ADD is, that every time I plan a camping trip, a baking job comes up.  I think I'll plan another one soon.

Tutu's, cupcakes and camping. Oh my!

It seems like an eternity since I've been on here, but in all reality it's been like five days.  Although, that is the longest I've gone for quite some time without even sitting here and working on something, anything, I haven't even bought a single needless item in like a week.  Wait, that's a good thing, right?

I haven't just been lazing around with my time, though.  Oh no, I've been a busy bee.  Friday and early Saturday involved making a tutu for a very special princess, then baking and decorating, with the younger, one small cake and twenty-four cupcakes for the princesses birthday party.

Pretty Princess Tutu

Pretty Princess Chloe.

Aren't they lovely.

Princess cupcakes.  Really blurry ones.

Frog cupcakes.  You may be a frog now, but someday you'll be a prince.

Princess cake.

After delivering the cake and tutu on Saturday morning, it was a dash to get back to the house, finish packing our stuff, then the car for the eighty-five mile drive to our camping destination.  Salmon La Sac, just outside of Roslyn.  If you've ever seen or heard of the show, Northern Exposure, Roslyn is the mock Alaskan town, they filmed in.  Well if you drive about fifteen miles passed there, you're smack dab in the middle of beautiful surroundings.

It was my first Memorial Day camping trip in ten years, and I have to say, it's just as crazy as it was a decade ago.  If not crazier.  So crazy in fact, that my camera stayed hidden for most of the time, for fear of it getting alcohol poisoning or talked into fire walking.  I did take it out in the daytime for a few shot of the awesomeness that is Mother Nature.

Such a happy camper.

The view from the campfire, minus the water.

 

More of the campsite.  The "hotel" campers.  Wait, is that Bigfoot walking behind that tree?  Oh, no, it's just Brandon.

I honestly can't believe that the tarp didn't melt, with the size of the fire that was under it.

Not so happy camper.  Hasn't had her coffee yet.

He played himself out in about an hour.

Hippy in the woods.

I have no words for this, except, I'm sorry.

Don't let the beauty fool you, that shit's cold.

Came home from camping a day early, eighty-five miles back home, twenty-four hours later.  But that's okay, I had all day Monday to hang out with The Mister and listen to him tell me how much he hates it when I'm not here to cook for him, or make coffee in the mornings, and that I should never leave him again.

Then I make him coffee and breakfast and all is right again.

Rock on!
Marisa